Small steps to using technology in the classroom

I just recently presented my social skills/social studies lesson to the students. I wanted to make sure that I included an aspect that the students would enjoy - and it would motivate them to learn more about the topic. I was doing a lesson on speaking Italian, because Italy is the unit that the students are focusing on in social studies. I decided to include a piece of technology in my lesson. For the audio aspect for differentiation, I chose to use my laptop and let the students listen to someone else speak Italian in an accent. The students really got a kick out of hearing someone that has an Italian background speak the language. The students were able to get a deeper look into the culture with this addition to the lesson. They were able to apply this knowledge and place more emphasis on their "accent" when they spoke the greetings back to me. The recording encouraged the students to put more effort into the activity. It was only a brief use of technology, but it was enough to show me the potential benefits it can being when implementing throughout the entire day in the classroom.